Combining psychological and engineering approaches to utilizing social robots with children with Autism

Abstract

It is estimated that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 68 children. Early identification of an ASD is exceedingly important to the introduction of an intervention. We are developing a robot-assisted approach that will serve as an improved diagnostic and early intervention tool for children with autism. The robot, named PABI® (Penguin for Autism Behavioral Interventions), is a compact humanoid robot taking on an expressive cartoon-like embodiment. The robot is affordable, durable, and portable so that it can be used in various settings including schools, clinics, and the home. Thus enabling significantly enhanced and more readily available diagnosis and continuation of care. Through facial expressions, body motion, verbal cues, stereo vision-based tracking, and a tablet computer, the robot is capable of interacting meaningfully with an autistic child. Initial implementations of the robot, as part of a comprehensive treatment model (CTM), include Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy where the child interacts with a tablet computer wirelessly interfaced with the robot. At the same time, the robot makes meaningful expressions and utterances and uses stereo cameras in eyes to track the child, maintain eye contact, and collect data such as affect and gaze direction for charting of progress. In this paper we present the clinical justification, anticipated usage with corresponding requirements, prototype development of the robotic system, and demonstration of a sample application for robot-assisted ABA therapy.

Computer vision in autism spectrum disorder research: a systematic review of published studies from 2009 to 2019

“…Computer vision has also been used to develop robot-mediated assistive technologies for ASD therapy. Dickstein-Fischer and Fischer 88 developed a robot, named PABI (Penguin for Autism Behavioural Interventions), with augmented vision to interact meaningfully with an autistic child during therapy. Similarly, Bekele et al 89 developed a robot with augmented vision to automatically adapt itself in an individualised manner and to administer joint attention prompts.…”

Collaborative Research Project: Developing and Testing a Robot-Assisted Intervention for Children With Autism

“…To date, nearly 30 robots were tested as remedial tools for ASD [e.g., : Labo-1 (Werry et al, 2001 ); Muu (Miyamoto et al, 2005 ), Robota (Billard et al, 2007 ), FACE (Pioggia et al, 2007 ), Keepon (Kozima et al, 2007 ), Aibo (Francois et al, 2009 ), IROMEC (Iacono et al, 2011 ), Charlie (Boccanfuso and O'Kane, 2011 ), NAO (Shamsuddin et al, 2012 ), Flobi (Damm et al, 2013 ); GIPY-1 (Giannopulu, 2013 ), Pleo (Kim et al, 2013 ), KASPAR (Wainer et al, 2014 ), Darwin-OP (Peng et al, 2014 ), Pabi (Dickstein-Fischer and Fischer, 2014 ), Zeno (Salvador et al, 2015 ), Jibo (Guizzo, 2015 ), Probo (Simut et al, 2016 ), Maria (Valadao et al, 2016 ), Sphero (Golestan et al, 2017 ), CARO (Yun et al, 2017 ), KiliRo (Bharatharaj et al, 2018 ), MINA (Ghorbandaei Pour et al, 2018 ), QTrobot (Costa et al, 2018 ), Milo (Chalmers, 2018 ), Leo (She et al, 2018 ), Daisy (Pliasa and Fachantidis, 2019 ), SAM (Lebersfeld et al, 2019 ), SPRITE (Clabaugh et al, 2019 ), Actroid-F (Yoshikawa et al, 2019 ) etc.].…”

Socially assistive robots: current status and future prospects for autism interventions

“…A relatively new SAR, the Penguin for Autism Behavioral Intervention (PABI), is currently being developed from the ground up as a modular platform specifically designed for assisting in the delivery of ABA therapy. 62 PABI has the ability to provide programming related to various sets of skills, including the goals of intervention mentioned by Begum et al, 10 using several of the features of empirically supported ABA therapy, such as DTT. As research and development continue, other modules utilizing other types of intervention can be added or modified.…”

“…PABI is a non-anthropomorphic small-sized, accessible social robot that is designed for effective early interventions (EIs) in children with autism ( Figure 1). 62 As an SAR built upon the previously discussed concepts of modularity and adaptability, PABI is intended to evolve as feasibility studies are conducted for its clinical applications and behavioral underpinnings. 8,62,63 The program utilizes a flashcard database to provide small units of mastery-based criteria for each session, and can incorporate cloud hosting by storing its flashcard database on the cloud for ease of accessibility and curriculum management.…”

“…62 As an SAR built upon the previously discussed concepts of modularity and adaptability, PABI is intended to evolve as feasibility studies are conducted for its clinical applications and behavioral underpinnings. 8,62,63 The program utilizes a flashcard database to provide small units of mastery-based criteria for each session, and can incorporate cloud hosting by storing its flashcard database on the cloud for ease of accessibility and curriculum management. These flashcards can utilize multimedia, including images, text, video or audio clips, which can then be modularly selected for creating new programs such as DTTs for ABA therapy (Figure 2).…”